Earlier this year, during CityScape 2013, the Abu Dhabi Educational Council showcased its Future Schools Program, while participating in the Eco Construct Expo Conference. What’s interesting to note is that ADEC is clearly determined to completely revamp the way its schools are envisioned, conceptualised and built. Engineer Hamad Al Dhaheri, ADEC’s PSQA executive director and Infrastructure and Facilities Division manager, said at the time that the Future Schools Program would ‘transform school facilities’ in Abu Dhabi.
He highlighted the fact that all of ADEC’s Cycle 1,2,3 public schools have been granted Estidama Pearl rating three due to their eco-friendly sustainability features, as well as for their overall design and technology facilities.
“Our schools serve the community around them, since they are built in the centre of a community which consists of a hospital, mosque, shops, and accommodation,” he added.
So the question has to be asked, ‘what’s driving this?’ Why has education suddenly become so important to the Abu Dhabi government, that they’re determined to build 100 new schools in the capital between 2009 and 2020?
While the official line is that the capital expects to see a sizeable surge in its population levels in that timeframe, I suspect that there may be an even larger plan at work.
It’s no secret that the UAE has been seeking for ways to diversify its economy away from oil and gas for a number of years. Dubai has obviously gone down the tourism route, building extravagant projects that will bring in travellers looking to ‘shop till they drop’.
On the other hand Abu Dhabi has gone for a quieter, more thoughtful approach. Quite literally. I believe that this drive to develop education at a primary and secondary level are but the first steps towards the capital reinventing itself as a knowledge based economy.
Already we’ve seen some of the finest university campuses in the UAE being built, while ADEC is determined to revamp things at a school level. What’s next? I predict we could see science parks and other such ‘knowledge based’ projects cropping up, pushing the economy towards an era of innovation and development.
The UAE capital could be about to prove to the region that a little education goes a long way.